Power outages, how do you handle them?

I had to deal with a small power outage this evening which lasted about 3 and a half hours. No biggie, but it got me to thinking how everyone else might handle such a thing.

I know most of my neighbors don't have a wood burning appliance, and they might have propane or fuel oil. Maybe even electric heat! Power outages at this time of year must scare them since now is when a lot of us are heating our homes. If you don't have electricity, you don't have the power necessary to run the furnaces that run on fuel oil or propane. Electric furnaces are a given.

So okay, it's been raining here since yesterday, about 3.25 inches worth and it's still doing the light rain thing. Then to have the power outage on top of it, I had to kind of smile. I pulled out a couple of LED flashlights, nothing fancy, and my old fashioned oil lanterns and I was gooder to go. I did have to shut down my laptop after I saved everything I had open, but even that really wasn't a big deal.

Then I emptied the trash as I normally would. I need to haul it a few miles down the road to one of those dumpster things. After I came back, I put a fire in the wood stove, and settled in for a couple pieces of of leftover cold chicken and baked beans. Wouldn't you know it, as I was finishing up, the power came back on. I guess I don't need to heat the coffee on the wood stove. As for cooking, if it were necessary, I have the charcoal grill and of course the wood stove.

In other words, power outages for me are a minor annoyance!

 

The only time it bothers us in in the very hot temps of summer. We use a UPS to keep the internet up and our clay thrower battery to charge devices. Got oil lamps on the wall and no shortage of candles or know how.

 

I know most people today as well as myself have a generator just in case. It's always good to have a few mandatory things on such as a fridge and hot water for a shower

 

I thought about picking up a small generator, but I can do without the internet for however long (DSL with the electric modem). I rarely if ever use the phone, though I do have a regular plug in type that doesn't require a power supply in case of emergency. Cold showers don't really bother me (electric hot water heater) and anything in the freezer will maintain for upwards of a week without thawing if I don't open it. It would be a shame if I'd have to throw out all that meat, especially the bacon! But it's not the end of the world.

 

I always have several gallons of water on standby for drinking and cooking, and always have plenty of canned goods including meat on hand. I don't spend a lot on batteries since most of my stuff only take the AA and AAA batteries. And cooking! If you can build a fire someplace, be it in a wood stove, charcoal grill, fire pit, you always have a way to cook. AND most canned meats are already fully cooked so eating them cold is also an option.

For sure it's not rocket science or brain surgery, but a lot of folk these days seem to lack the cognitive ability to comprehend such a thing. (Oh no, the power is off, we're all gonna die!)

 

Yeah, but would I want to?

 

Couple of years ago we had a widespread weeklong outage. Kept 2 generators (1 at home 1 at work)running 24 hours a day only shutting them down to check oil. It cost me 514.00 for gas and I had to drive 15 miles to get to a station that had power. The work generator had to be filled about every 5 hours, by the time I got home from filling it I could sleep for about 2-1/2 to 3 hours before I had to go back in to work to top it up.
The following year I installed a standby propane generator!

Gary

 

It can become an annoyance if it lasts more than a day or so. I've only had to deal with one that lasted for almost 4 days, but we survived just fine.
Wood stove to make coffee, soup, eggs, whatever.
Melted snow.....a LOT of it, to flush the toilet. Lots of stuff in the pantry. It would take quite a while for me to starve.
We acquired a generator recently, so that should keep the well pumping when needed, and a couple lights. Probably the modem too, so I can get here.

 

We had a power outage during an Ice storm in January for one week. Now, in Maine, no power in the dead of winter, in rural areas, means, no heat, no water, no flush. Our kids were home visiting us with their kids and pets. House was full. No heat. We used a K 1 heater for min. amt. of heat. Then again, over Christmas no less. We survived. However, we now have a generator and some back up power packs to run our C pap.

 

We have had 3 muti-day outages in the 3 years we have been in this house - 5, 10, and 7 days, if I remember correctly. The first was a challenge, as everything but the woodstove is electric, and we didn't have a generator for the first couple of days. The other two were no big deal.

We now have a 5000W (continous) generator with a transfer switch, and can run anything in the house we need with it, obviously not everything at once. We would run about an hour in the morning, and 2-3 hours in the evening, and all was well. That is enough to keep the food, provide hot showers, cook, etc. The closest gas station has a generator, so they continue to sell through outages. We also have 1000 gallons of water that will gravity feed (slowly) into the house, so toilets, washing hands, cooking, and such are fine without the power on for the pump. And we have a propane burner and grill to fall back on as well.

So we do pretty well.

 

I'll be doing something similar next year when I rebuild the pump house. There is a water line from the holding tank at the spring head that had been run down close to the pump house by one of the previous owners. Right now it's just attached to an older type hand pump about 10 feet behind the pump house. When I do the rebuild, I'll put a valve type tee where I can switch over when there is a power failure.

I already cut the connection point by accident a few years back already. I was doing some digging near the pump house and thought I had run into another root. So I just slammed the shovel into it which cut it clean through. Yep, water spraying everywhere! I made the repair and it's been good ever since. I think that spot would be ideal for placing a valve type tee and eliminate my repair at the same time.

Until then, if there is a need for water during a power outage, other than what I have on hand, I have the spring or there is a creek across the road.

 

I must have it pretty good. I think the longest I've ever been without power is about two hours, and that was when lightning hit the transformer on the pole at the end of the driveway.

 

My wood stove requires a water pump and the central air fan, so that's a no go during a power outage. I do have 3 kerosene heaters and 10 gallons of fuel and a ton of camping equipment that would get us by fine. And a generator that can power anything we'd need. Eventually I plan to put in an interlock switch so I can just plug the generator to the house and power the few circuits I want running (including the wood boiler).

Maybe 14 or so years ago when I was in college and living with my parents we lost electricity in late December for 10 days after an ice storm. They have a wood stove so heat wasn't a concern, Mom even cooked the Christmas dinner on the wood stove. I remember the worst thing was getting tired of reading or drawing by 7:00PM so I'd just go to bed early. I was a night owl back then, so that was the worst struggle lol.

 

Its basically a non event here. I have 2 gennys . An 8K and a 3K. Ill run the 8K to power most of the house from the time I get home from work till bedtime and the 3K the rest of the time to run the frig/freezers and the wood furnace blower if its winter.
Funny this subject came up. Last week a town 10 miles from here had their water system go down due to human error and the aquifer was drained. Took a week to get it back in play. During that time I saw more selfish BS go on than at any time in my life here locally. The GF , kids and I were sitting at the dinner table and I recalled the 2003 NE blackout. It lasted close to a week here. The GF didn't remember. I did and it was no big deal. I remember still going to work everyday.
This water system down a week ago made me lose a little faith in our younger generation. Made me think of how to prep just a little better. Also made me think I need more ammo. This younger generation is much more helpless than I realized.

 

We've been quite lucky in our area for power stability. For the most part, we have short blips of no power when they're fixing or upgrading, but never any multi day events. The last time the power was out for about 40 hours, was 2012? I think the city only lost power for 24 hours, but the rural took longer to get up and running. We lost some food, but that was it. No big deal.

Big blackout of 2012 | paNOW

I always meant to get a generator lol

 

Still trying to figure out the best way to store the gen. for a potential outage.
I could put it on the deck under a tarp, and run a heavy duty extension cord in until I can get a transfer switch put in, but that means the door has to be open slightly in the dead of winter.